Dietary supplements have been used to treat a host of medical conditions and physical symptoms. The means for administering such dietary supplements is often done in pill or liquid form in that such means are readily producible and easily transported and packaged.
Unfortunately pills and liquid forms of dietary supplements pose various problems in use. Dietary supplements in pill form can have a large physical size which is often necessitated by the multiple components contained in the dietary supplement which are needed to assure an adequate dosage of the desired dietary supplement components, e.g., meeting the recommended daily allowance of various vitamins, minerals and nutrients. The term “horse pill” has been coined by the use of such large size pills. The size of these pills can prove difficult to swallow and may deter their use.
In addition, certain compositions of dietary supplements can be used to treat malnutrition and lack of essential vitamins and minerals. Malnutrition in the daily diet of both young and old individuals can lead to severe, sometimes, irreversible health problems in individuals living in the United States and throughout the world. The use of pills to treat malnutrition may pose additional problems in that often where there is malnutrition there is also a shortage of clean drinking water. Therefore, pills and capsules that may require and/or assist the physical administration of the same by the drinking of potable water to consume the pill or capsule poses severe difficulties to their use. Also, often children and/or adults suffering from malnutrition have difficulties swallowing making pills/capsules impractical, even if clean drinking water is available.
As for liquids, dosage control is an issue. The provision of large bottles of a dietary supplement with instructions on daily dosage (often written in a foreign language to that of the administered population) poses the problem of potential overdose. Even if such liquids are provided with dosage information in the native language, many people of countries having severe malnutrition may also be illiterate, thus, obviating the purpose of any written dosage information on the bottle. Still further problems are the storage of unused dietary supplements that may expire sooner in the extreme temperature conditions found in countries having issues of malnutrition.
The use of pills or liquid forms of dietary supplements also pose challenges in situations wherein the dietary supplement is used to treat other than malnutrition. For example, the conspicuous consumption of a pill or the use of a physical dispensing means, e.g., a spoon to administer liquid forms of the same may deter people in certain social settings from the use of such means due to issues of personal privacy. Even in situations of treating malnutrition the use of a physical pill or liquid form may prove socially embarrassing for the treated person and as such other more discrete forms of administration would be desirable.
One further such situation can be when such a dietary supplement is used to treat a hangover. Hangovers which result from the over indulgence of alcohol are believed to have two basic causes, the diuretic effect of ethanol and the toxic effect of acetaldehyde on the body which is produced by the conversion of ethanol in the liver. Because the conspicuous use of a dietary supplement to treat a hangover may be socially undesirable it would be desirable to provide a means of administering such a dietary supplement in a manner that is not as overt as the use of a pill or liquid form of dietary supplement.
Orally dissolvable strips containing dietary supplements are a means to discretely treat such conditions as malnutrition and hangovers. In addition, orally dissolvable strips containing dietary supplements and/or essential vitamins can also be used to revitalize athletes, boost an individual's immune system, and deliver prescription medication.
In addition, vitamins and minerals that are taken via the digested tract are less efficient since a large amount of the vitamins and minerals taken are modified, activated, or inactivated before they enter the systemic circulation, or are left unchanged and excreted. That is, intestinal and hepatic degradation or alteration of a vitamin, mineral, drug or substance taken by mouth, after absorption, removes some of the active substance from the blood before it enters the general circulation. Thus, what is needed is a way of getting more of the vitamins and/or minerals administered into the general circulation.
The use of orally dissolvable strips poses additional problems in their use. For example, the strips are usually required to be thin in that such strips are often packaged in rolls with a backing material and the use of strip that is too thick can prevent effective rolling of the strip material and limit the doses available in a single package. This can cause problems in production and excessive cost in the desired product.
In addition, the use of strips that are thin results in a two-fold problem of the strips adhering to each other in certain physical situations such as excessive humidity, e.g., the excessive humidity that can be found in areas of the world that have issues of malnutrition, and secondly the inability to effectively contain an effective dose of dietary supplement in such a thin strip.
For all these reasons and more, what is needed is an inexpensive way for consumers to be able to fulfill their daily dietary needs and/or treat any issue such as malnutrition or hangover while avoiding the problems of excessive adherence of the strips and the inability to concentrate active ingredients on the strip so as to be effective.
The present invention provides an easy, inexpensive way to effectively delivering essential dietary supplements including vitamins and minerals without water in a pre-measured dosage more effectively. The present invention also overcomes the inherent problems with thin-film strips sticking together. The present invention is further described in the sections following hereafter.